SF’s mayor candidates take up challenge to house 1,000 people in first year

Daniel Lurie walks through the Tenderloin on his way to a meeting at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, July 20, 2011.

Photo: Russell Yip / The Chronicle

The leading contenders in San Francisco’s mayor’s race have signed a campaign challenge issued by the Tipping Point Community charitable organization to secure 1,000 units of housing for homeless people in their first year in office.

Finding ways to tackle San Francisco’s homelessness epidemic has been a front-and-center issue for each of the city’s mayoral candidates.

Angela Alioto, London Breed, Jane Kim, Mark Leno and Amy Farah Weiss have all signed the pledge.

“Every one of them said, ‘This is a no-brainer, thank you,’” said Daniel Lurie, Tipping Point’s founder and CEO.

Lurie said his organization’s pledge represents one way to push the candidates to make a tangible impact on one of the city’s thorniest problems — and in a short period of time.

“The key is, whoever wins, is the mayor committed to the issue, or are they paying lip service during the campaign?” he said. “I think we’re all unified in this. We have to solve this issue for the people living on the streets and for the citizens of San Francisco.”

Tipping Point’s pledge offers few constraints on how the candidates can reach the goal — there are no restrictions on where they can be built, how much to set aside for rent subsidies or whether the units would be for homeless individuals or families. But it does specify that the units would be in addition to any permanent, supportive housing units or temporary shelters currently in the city’s pipeline.

Lurie said that Tipping Point, which focuses on efforts to combat poverty in the Bay Area, would be in “lockstep” with the city’s next mayor to help them achieve the 1,000-unit goal. Tipping Point has already been scouting potential housing sites, Lurie said.

Last year, in what was hailed as the biggest donation of its kind ever made in San Francisco, Tipping Point made a pledge of its own — vowing to raise $100 million to help cut the chronically homeless population in half over five years.

— Dominic Fracassa

Voters who want to vote early can do so at the City Hall Voting Center starting Monday.

Photo: Mike Kepka / San Francisco Chronicle

Early voting: Election Day in San Francisco is June 5, but next week the city’s Department of Elections is opening the City Hall Voting Center for anyone who wants to cast their ballot early.

Beginning Monday, May 7, and running through 8 p.m. June 5, the voting center will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, with the exception of Memorial Day, May 28. The voting center, located on City Hall’s bottom floor, will also be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the two weekends before the election: May 26 and 27 and June 2 and 3

Residents can also visit the center to register to vote, update their voter registration, drop off vote-by-mail ballots or exchange a spoiled ballot.

Dominic Fracassa covers San Francisco City Hall for The Chronicle. He previously worked as a reporter and editor for the Daily Journal, a legal affairs newspaper. He started in news in his home state of Michigan, where he worked as a news director of 103.9 WLEN.